Disclaimer: I had several friends and relatives who were in the Vietnam war. One of them had his company shot out around him three times. I have one grandson who is in the Army and overseas right now, and two more grandsons who are considering a military career. I have the utmost respect for men in the military.

That said:

The Ballad of the Green Berets. Seriously, what were we thinking? Neither the music, nor the lyrics are worthy of honoring the military.

There were some good songs: 2. Cherish by the associations; 3. (You’re My) Soul and Inspiration – Righteous Brothers; 4. Monday – The Mama’s and the Papa’s; 8. Summer in the City – Lovin’ Spoonful; 10. California Dreamin’ by The Mama’s and the Papa’s.

It was a diverse list that included Nancy Sinatra, Roger Williams and Frank Sinatra, as well as The Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

But, what truly amazes me is this:

On a list that includes four Beatles songs: We Can Work It Out, Paperback Writer, Yellow Submarine and Nowhere man and three Simon and Garfunkel songs: I am a Rock, Sounds of Silence and Homeward Bound, just exactly how did a Green Beret come out number one?

I have not been reading blogs regularly lately.I am spending more time upgrading my web page than reading.So, today is a lazy day and I thought I would catch up with my list. Lyda wants cake Pollyanna Wants CAKE!!!!! « Pollyanna Rainbow Sunshine and the Needles of Doom, while I just want one of her Legal Representatives. (Fess up, Lyda, you did that just to get my goat. Viggo, a legal Representative, HAH!)

As for Jack Nicholson, Anna-Liza, he is just creepy to me; however, I have never met him in person, so I will try to withhold judgment. But, Viggo, he is NOT.

Back to cake. I was also reading Crazy Aunt Purl, who is opting out of the recession. So, what do Cake and a recession have in common?

They have WAR CAKE in common. As I listen to my propane being siphoned off by a constantly running furnace, I know that belt-tightening is in order.

I found this recipe in the paper and saved it for many, many years. I made it once and forgot about it, until JCountry needed a recipe for a school recipe book. Like most children, he told me at 10pm the night before he needed the recipe and a sample of it. It was probably just before payday and I was looking for something without eggs and other things I was out of and that was easy. It was such a hit that the teacher requested I make a second one, a week later.

It has been an occasional staple ever since and it fits four criteria: 1. It’s cake 2. it’s economical 3. it’s really good and 4. it’s easy.

During WWII, belt tightening was an art form and this recipe comes from the fact that butter, eggs and milk were in short supply, and rationed. It is a dark, heavy cake so you can tell yourself it is healthier and, in some ways, it is.

I should have a pretty picture of it here. It would brighten up the site and the heat from the oven would warm the house, but alas, I’m not going to. Maybe tomorrow.

Mix:

2 cups of brown sugar

2 cups hot water

2 teaspoons shortening

in medium size saucepan

Add:

1/2 to 3/4 cup raisins or dates

1 teaspoon salt (I always use less than half of what a recipe calls for)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon cloves

Boil this until it bubbles and then for five more minutes after it first bubbles.

Remove from stove and let cool.

After cooling, and be sure it cools completely, this is very important.

ADD:

3 cups of flour and

1 teaspoon of baking soda that has been dissolved in a couple of teaspoons of hot water

Mix well:

Pour into greased tube pan and bake for one hour at 350 degrees F. to 375 degrees F

I was killing time this morning, like I have so much extra to kill, well, I really do, I just don’t want to do what I should be doing with it. Somehow, I think this sentence has way too many commas in it. I copied and pasted it to MSWord and they are not offering any corrections, so any editor/agents out there, just pretend I meant to do that—Stream of consciousness thing and all.

Anyway, in killing time this morning reading all the neat blogs about Sarah Palin and now I have added an Alaskan blog *Mudflats* to my daily read. Who could resist this information? Okay, now that’s another thing you agents/editors need to ignore—my politics. I was actually going to write about an email I received from a friend, who is so stressed out about the state of politics, I fear for his sanity, but then I remembered that I am not supposed to write about anything controversial. Ooppps!! Too late for that.

Anyway, again, I only got as far as C’s, in my daily blog troll. *Cranky Fitness* provided this morning’s blog inspiration with her list. First, I have to say, who can resist a blog with cupcakes as its banner? Okay, a nice piece of wedding cake might be better for us cake connoisseurs. Since her blog is about fitness, I’d say this whole cake thing is off limits; except on your birthday. Or when you go to a wedding. Or on the Ides of March. Or—–

This, cakes and lists, is something I have in common with *Pollyanna Rainbow Sunshine and the Needles of Doom*. This is the team who has a whole blog, nearly (I haven’t read the whole thing yet) made up of lists; and, I know for a fact that one of them would join me in my cake quest or possibly in doing many unmentionable things to Viggo Mortensen.

Back to the lists: I find I do get more things done when I make lists. When I was doing Body for Life faithfully, I think it was the fact of having a chart to fill out for exercise and also for what I ate. Those were lists that kept me on track; and away from cake.

Now-a-days though, my lists look something like this.

1. Six am do dishes- no room for dishwasher in this blasted house.

2. Seven am wake boys

3. Feed visiting rabbit and clean the poop out of her food and water dishes. What is her problem?

4. Water dog, then take her for a walk in the yard and to water the garden. Talk lovingly to baby watermelons. We will be so drowning in watermelons at some point. Tomatoes are just starting to get red. I may go on a tomato and watermelon diet.

5. Call the class ring company and order a replacement for JRockGuitarMan’s class ring.

6. Remind JRock that I will have his hide if it ever disappears from his finger again.

7. Tell EMT Boy he looks good in suit of visiting son, Starky

8. Tell Starky he looks good in cowboy hat, boots, shirts and jeans of EMT boy. (Hey, they get worse as Halloween gets near. One year we gave them a box of costumes for Christmas and it was their favorite gift.)

9. Go to mom’s town tomorrow: see vet (for dog pills, not for me), go to license bureau (for mom’s handicapped tag), help her with pacemaker check by phone (which she can do on her own), out to eat (always) grocery store, farm stand for tomatoes and watermelon since mine aren’t ready to pick yet. (never buy a watermelon at Marsh — worse one I ever had).

I have stretched my limits of punctuation and patience in this blog, so am off to work on my novel to bed. I shall put my headphones on and listen to Harry Potter yet again. I have been listening to the CD’s for three years now. Since memoiries from my last visit in Wyoming roll around in my head too often at night. The CD’s only put me to sleep because I have them memorized by now. So, new books on tape only work when I am painting or throwing pottery and want to be reading. Music doesn’t work either. Both of them just make me stay awake to hear more. But, my brain calms right down with the soothing voice of Jim Dale.

I noticed I never posted Day 2 – Of our move from Wyoming, and it’s not happening today. Oh Well!

I watched about 10 minutes of news and turned off the tv. That’s actually a good thing.

I did two minutes on the treadmill. That’s NOT a good thing.

I read two more pages of Terry Pratchett’s The Color Of Magic. Okay, he’s funny and I really want to like it but couldn’t we just lose some of the made up words??

I posted mom’s daily poem for her on her blog. Padairvanvleck’s Weblog. I post her poems for her, send her copies of the comments and she is enjoying the comments a lot. She gets kind of lonely in her apartment so the blog helps a lot.

I did the dishes, all five of them. Pizza last night is so nice on the dirty dish front.

The dog finally got her butt up and went out and I have a stack of paperwork on the floor that is increasing in volume relative to the National Debt.

On a lighter note, after baring my soul about my grandkids and after reading Pollyanna’s reading challenge at http://prsunshine.wordpress.com/pollyannas-reading-in-wonderland-challenge/I thought I would tell you about the THE BEST mystery I have ever read; and believe me, I started with A and went to Z in Mysteries, at the Lake County Public Library. It’s a research library and it’s hugely wonderful. I am not the best reviewer in the world, but gosh this book is so good, I can’t wait for his second one to come out.

I do my treadmill each morning. I do not find this a particularly fascinating pastime and I’m at a slow pace yet, so I read to pass the time. This is not the easiest thing to do on the Body for Life Program, as you increase and decrease speeds constantly. I try to reserve the book for the treadmill, thereby: 1. Having something to read each day and 2. Forcing me to work on my own YA Novel and not sit all day and read someone elses book.

First day, with The Chemistry of Death, I did my twenty-one minutes, pulled the plug and stood on the machine for another fifteen. I finally had to sit down and forced myself to leave the book on the machine.Day two, FORGET THAT, I read on the treadmill and took the book with me. I spent the rest of the day, feet up, reading the most wonderful Mystery writing I have encountered in a long time, maybe ever.

This is Simon Beckett’s first novel. His words just suck you into the landscape. I first wrote a line that his words were poetry but then I read the back cover and Tess Gerritsen said that already. But, environment is really a character in this book (as we are always supposed to do). He sucks you into it with the protagonist entry into the rural town.

But, oh how he handles all of it. You think you know who the Antagonist is; oh no, it must be this guy, no it could be that guy, and soon you just forget trying to guess and enjoy the journey. And, at the end, it’s the same way. No spoiler here because this book is just too good to do.

Polyanna dug through the garbage can of search terms, at her Blog, to create artwork. (See link above for full poem) I am particularly taken with the following lines in her poem:

plying hand dye,
dead brain cells

I feel like someone, be it the searcher or Lyda, has seen the inside of my brain. Not a pleasant feat! As I read these lines, I picture all these little threads of hand dyed yarn tangled in the recesses of my dead brain cells. Gosh, is this what happens to a knitter as she ages? Her attic becomes nothing but a tangle of yarn.

Now, I stand and pronounce to the world. “I have a brain disorder. I see things that no one else sees and I enjoy it.” Yup! That’s right. I enjoy my little visions. My family has puzzled over them for years. They used to be in color. I saw a purple door floating in the air once. Now, they are in black and white.

The other night I turned off my laptop, and before shutting the screen, I was able to watch a cartoon in black and white on the actually blank screen. Usually, this happens at night and I’m wondering if it is a medication causing it. Or, perhaps a flashback from a “medication.”

I wake often during the night and sometimes see little black floating triagles floating through the air. Other times I can lay there and watch a moving cartoon in black and white. Now, if I can just get them to play a cartoon of my book, I’d be all set. At least I don’t hear voices.